A letter from Elisabeth of Schoenau ()

Translated letter:

Rejoice with me, my lady and venerable daughter of the eternal king, since the finger of God writes in you so that you may proclaim the word of life. Blessed are you and may it be well for you forever. You are the organ of the Holy Spirit because your words enkindle me like a flame touching my heart and I burst forth in these words.
[She greatly commends Hildegard and expounds to her about the leaders of the Church and the Cathars.] My lady Hildegard, rightly are you called Hildegard because the stimulus of God works well in you with marvelous fortitude for the edification of His Church.(1) Be strong in the Holy Spirit. Blessed are you for the Lord has chosen you and has appointed you like one of those about whom He said, “I have appointed you so that you may go and bring forth fruit and your fruit will endure” (Jn. 15:16). In this way you enter the path of contemplation of the Lord like a dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hollow in the wall (Song 2:14). The one who chose you will crown you with the crown of gladness. The way of the Lord is made straight in your presence. O lady Hildegard, carry out the work of the Lord, just as you have done so far, because the Lord has placed you as worker in His vineyard (Mt. 20:1). Indeed the Lord sought workers in His vineyard, and He found them all idle because no one leads them. The vineyard of the Lord does not have a cultivator; the vineyard of the Lord perishes; the head of the Church languishes and its members are dead. Alas, what should be done about this, since the Lord finds few in His Church who contemplate this with a blazing mind, but instead finds only those who wish to rule themselves and follow their own will. The Lord has tested them and found them sleeping. On account of this a thief has come and broken in and destroyed the foundation stone, and threw it in a cistern that had no water and was not irrigated. The foundation stone is the head of the Church which was thrown away. The Church of God is arid, having no moisture, and it is cold in love for God. But I also recall to myself that once there appeared to me poisonous serpents about to come into the Church of God, secretly hoping to destroy God’s Church.(2) I understand this to refer to those Cathars who are now secretly beguiling the church of God. Expel them, Lord, our protector! And blessed is the one who will not be scandalized in this time. The patriarch David said, “Will those who sleep not rise again?” (Ps. 40:9). Arise and be stirred and keep watch because the vengeance of God shouts to you! Shriek, pastors, and cry aloud! Sprinkle yourselves with ashes and repent (Jer. 25:34)! Don’t give place to the devil (Eph. 4:27), because like a roaring lion he circles, seeking what he may devour (1 Pt. 5:8). Blessed is the one who fears the Lord of all creation and thus agitates the high priest so that he will remove the opprobrium from his people (Is. 25:8) and all Israel will be saved.
[She expounds to Hildegard about their contempt for the Lord and His saints.] Now, moreover, my people are perverse to me, and stiff-necked they walk in my presence, and they do not think about how to bear my judgment: with flagellation and making offerings to myself and my saints who daily cry before my throne saying, “Lord, king of eternal glory, in your speech all things are ordained and there is no one who can resist your will. Avenge our blood (Rv. 6:10), because the earth oppresses us with their contaminations.” I the Lord, creator of all creatures, have sent my incarnate Word from the heights of the heavens into the dark valley so that it would illuminate those who were in shadows and who thought they were something but were nothing. And the people loved the shadows more than the light. But this was the true light and like the morning star in the midst of fog (Eccl. 50:6), and like the sun shining in its strength in the middle of the day (Rv. 1:16), so did He shine in the midst of His people, full of wisdom and fortitude, and the whole earth was filled with His teaching, yet you have forgotten Him. I swear by my right hand and my throne that this will no longer be.
[She turns her sermon to the people of God.] O human, whoever you are, what reason can you use to excuse yourself? You have eyes and you do not see, and ears for hearing and you do not understand. What more shall I do for you? If you lose Him, who do you think is going to redeem you? Remember that the only Son of my heart died once for your sins and arose and ascended into heaven and sits in His glory and left you a model so that you could follow His footsteps. How, by what heart, or by what knowledge, do you follow Him? Far indeed are His ways from your ways. If you will not walk like He walked, how can you come to Him? Do not turn aside to the right or the left, but follow His footsteps and in this way you can come to Him. But now you are slipping from sin to sin, from damnation to damnation. Walk, while there is light in you, lest the shadows surround you, for that ancient leviathan thinks that he is about to swallow the whole world. But there is still time for grace. Do penance, seek the Lord your God while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near (Is. 55:6). Turn to me with your whole heart, and I the Lord will be turned to you and will be reconciled with you and I will not abandon you in the time of tribulation and distress (2 Mc. 1:5). And that ancient serpent will fall into such a ruin that even his guts will be poured out.
[Again she speaks about the Cathars.] What is this that I have said about the guts of the ancient serpent? There are some people who are now swallowed up in his gut and later will be cast forth. They are murderers, adulterers, plunderers--the unjust who have hurled their souls into death. They are also the wretched Cathars who are more abominable than all creatures and utter their blazing words in sulfury tongues. The earth is contaminated by their abominable faith. Just as once the peoples crucified me, so daily I am crucified among them because they cultivate such practices. Oh what devilish insanity! They know that I am the creator of heaven and earth and all things in them, and I see into the depths. They tear at my wounds, dismissing the body and blood of my sacraments, offered for the salvation of all believers. And if they provoke me to wrath, I the Lord in my anger will wipe out the earth and its offspring all the way to Hell. Cease, sinners against justice! Cease this insanity! If you do not, I will order you to be tortured beyond belief by hellish worms without end, in sulfur and fire inextinguishable. And there is no faculty which can comprehend this hellish punishment except that great leviathan, who has stretched out and is seducing the whole world. [She turns her sermon to those who have undertaken to govern the Church of God; they should destroy the various errors of the heretics in the catholic Church.] Lest I strike you with the sword of my mouth, I the Lord, through my right hand, order you kings and princes, bishops and abbots, priests and everyone who is in power, to use all fortitude and the catholic faith to expel and destroy all the heresies which make schisms in my Church which I gave birth to in bitterness of my soul. Oh most miserable and wretched hypocrites! In the presence of the people you appear to be pious and innocent, yet within you are full of evil inclination. Tell me how you believe in almighty God if you do not believe that all things are possible with almighty God (Mt. 19:26)! Indeed it was possible for God to send the Holy Spirit from the seat of His great majesty into the virginal womb and for the Word of His incarnation to spring forth. Do you believe that God the Father created human beings in His own image and likeness and established them in the paradise of delight so that they would work and guard it? And that ancient serpent deceived them and they fell into sin and were thrown out for their disobedience? O unhappy hypocrite: how long do you think you will remain in your sins, not believing in the Son of God who proceeds from the Father? And therefore you don’t believe He was incarnate nor truly suffered, nor was buried nor resurrected, and did not ascend into heaven and will not come to judge the living and the dead. You, however who are learned, study the books of the New Testament and remember their words and you will find great fruit. Be renewed in the Holy Spirit and revive your souls in the structure of the Church which has been sanctified in Christ Jesus and illuminated by the holy gospel and whitewashed of its ancient rust. The holy Church was united with and betrothed to the celestial bridegroom, the Son of the eternal king, who washed her crimes in the Jordan so that there would be one faith, one baptism, one church, and a single dove, and one elect of Christ Jesus. Therefore you, a chosen race, a holy people, a royal priesthood, a people of purchase (1 Pt. 2: 9) must remember the freedom with which I have freed you from the yoke and captivity of the devil (Gal. 4:31). Indeed for sometime you were the darkness, but now you are the light. Walk as my beloved children, the children of light (Eph. 5:8), says your God. And again that same Truth spoke: “My chosen vineyard, I have planted you and made known to you every way of truth. How have you turned away, walking not along the straight path, but after your own sins? You seek peace according to your own will and you say, 'There will be peace’ but it is not the Son of peace and you have put aside peace.”
[She delivers a sermon to them about avoiding simony.] So I have been driven out, and there is no place where my feet may rest. I stand at the door and knock, and there is no one who lets me in. My head is full of dew (Song 5:2); my bed, in which I was hoping to rest, has been violated by various vices. Those who enter into my sanctuary with their impurities stain my bed with their perverse works. My pastors are weighed down as if in a heavy sleep, and what should I do to awaken them? I will raise up my right hand above them. I have been patient and have waited for them from day to day, and they have consigned me to oblivion. Indeed the Law disappears first from the priests and elders of my people (Ez. 7:26) because they seek to sell the sacrifices of my sacraments. Those who sell, sell judgment unto themselves. And those who buy, buy a double-edged sword. Again with fatherly chastisements I warn my pastors who know my secrets: “Be imitators of me and not of the devil; there are some who do not enter my fold by the door, but climb in by another way, through a different path, like thieves and robbers (Jn. 10:1), thieves because of their avarice and robbers because they lose the souls commissioned to them.(3) Indeed they cover their depraved works lest they be seen by the people. On account of this, those who are reprehensible in their own ways do not boldly speak out against every heresy.” Again I say to you, “Know beyond doubt that as many of the souls which you have received to govern and guard that are lost from my sheep because of your negligence, that many will I seek from your hands. At the dreadful judgment you shall render an account and all the evils which I spread over them will flow back upon you.”
[She makes an exhortation to those pastors of the Church.] Now therefore be revived and think about your predecessors the apostles and the other holy doctors of the Church who did not fear the threats of the people and the scourges of the executioner, but carried my word before kings and leaders. They were beaten and suffered many torments, but they endured all on account of my name. Therefore they stand before my throne in glory and honor which no one can reckon. There they see me not in mysteries, but eye to eye, face to face, in great brightness and majesty. Blessed is the one who reads and hears the words of this text and preserves them because they are true and have been sent from my throne through my angel for the edification of many.
[How to understand her earlier comment about the Cathars, “They utter their blazing words in sulphury tongues.”] While I was thinking about the meaning of the phrase which I had spoken, “They utter their blazing words in sulphury tongues,” the Lord placed these words in my mouth: “The nature of sulfur is such that its flame does not ascend on high but it burns with obscurity in bitterness. This signifies heresies which so obscurely offer poisonous words from which the blackest flames come forth and ignite the hearts of the faithful and make them hesitate in the catholic faith.” (4)

Original letter:

(XX) Congratulare mecum domina, et venerabilis filia eterni regis, quoniani digitus dei scribit in te, ut verbum vite pronunties. Beata es et bene tibi erit semper, et organum spiritus saneti tu es, quia verba tua accenderunt me quasi flamma tetigisset cor meum et prorupi in hec verba.
(XXI) Domina mea Hildegardis, recte vocaris Hildegardis, quia stimulus dei bene in te operatur mira fortitudine in edificationem ecclesie sue. Confortare spiritu sancto, beata es, quoniam elegit te dominus, et posuit te quasi unam ex illis, de quibus ipse ait: Posui vos, ut eatis et fructum afferatis, et fructus vester maneat. Sic incedis in via contemplationis domini quasi columba in foraminibus petre, incaverna macerie. Qui te elegit, ipse te coronabit corona leticie. Via enim domini recta facta est coram te. 0 domina Hildegardis perfice opus domini, sicut usque nunc fecisti, quia posuit te dominus operatricem in vinea sua. Quesivit enim dominus operarios in vineam suam, et invenit eos omnes ociosos, quia nemo eos conduxit. Vinea domini non habet cultorem, vinea domini periit, caput ecclesie languit, et membra eius mortua sunt. Heu, quid fiet de hoc, quia dominus paucos invenit in ecclesia sua, qui de hoc ardenti animo considerent, sed unusquisque se ipsum cupit regere et propriam voluntatem suam exercere. Probavit eos dominus, et invenit illos dormientes. Propter hoc venit fur el perfodit et destruxit lapidem fundamenti, et proiecit in cisternam non habentem aquam neque irrigata est. Lapis fundamenti est caput ecclesie quod proiectum est, et ecclesia dei arida est, non habens humorem, sed frigida est ab amore dei. Sed et ego mecum recolo, quod aliquando olim mihi apparuit venenosos serpentes venturos esse in ecclesiam dei, secreto ecclesiam dei lacerare cupientes. Et hoc intelligo pertinere ad kartaros istos, qui ecclesiam dei nunc occulte decipiunt. Expelle eos protector noster domine. Et beatus, qui non scandalizatus fuerit in hoc tempore. Dicit patriarcha David: Nunquid, qui dormit, non adiciet, ut resurgat? Surgite et excitamini et vigilate, quia clamat ad vos vindicta dei. Ululate pastores et clamate, aspergite vos cinere et penitemini, et nolite locum dare diabolo, quia circuit rugiens quasi leo, querens, quem devoret. Beatus homo, qui metuit dominum universe creature, ut interpellet summum pontificem, ut auferat obprobrium a populo suo, et omnis Israhel salvabitur. 
(XXII)  Nunc autem populus meus perversarius michi est, et ambulat coram me duris cervicibus, et non sentit, qualiter iudicium meum portat, flagellaudo, ostendo offensiones meas et sanctorum meorum, qui dant voces suas cottidie ante thronum meum dicentes: Domine rex eterne glorie in tua dicione cuncta sunt posita, et non est, qui possit tue resistere voluntati, vindica sanguinem nostrum, quia calcat nos terra contaminationibus suis. Ego dominus creator omnium creaturarum emisi eorbum meum incarnatum de sublimibus celorum in vallem tenebrosam, ut luceret eis, qui in tenebris erant, et putabant, se aliquid esse et nichil fuerunt, et amaverunt homines magis tenebras, quam lucem. Ipse vero erat lux vera, et quasi stella matutina in medio nebule, et quasi sol splendet in virtute sua in medio diei, sic refulgebat in medio populi sui, plenus sapientia et fortitudine, et omnis terra repleta est doctrinis eius, et obliti estis eum. Iuro per dexteram meam et thronum meum ultra non fiet. 
(XXIII)  0 homo quicunque es, qua ratione poteris te excusare? Oculos habes et non vides, et aures ad audiendum et non intelligis. Ultra quid faciam tibi? Si te ipsum perdideris, quem putas te esse redempturum. Recordamini, quia unicus filius cordis mei semel pro peccatis vestris mortuus est, et resurrexit, ascenditque in celum, et sedet in gloria sua, et reliquit vobis exemplum, ut sequamini vestigia eius. Quomodo, quali corde, vel quali conscientia sequimini eum. Longe enim sunt vie eius a viis vestris. Si non ambulaveritis, siut ipse ambulavit, quomodo ad eum potestis venire? Nolite declinare ad dexteram neque ad sinistram, sed sequimini vestigia eius, et sic ad eum venire potestis. Nunc autem estis lubricantes de peccato in peccatum, de dampnatione in dampnationem. Ambulate, dum lux erit in vobis, ne tenebre vos comprehendant, quia antiquus ille leviathan putat, se totum mundum esse deglutiturum. Adhuc autem tempus est gracie. Penitentiam agite, querite dominum deum vestrum, dum inveniri potest, invocate eum, dum prope cst. Convertimini ad me ex toto corde vestro, et ego dominus convertar ad vos et reconciliabor vobis, nec vos deseram in tempore tribulationis et angustie. Et ille serpens antiquus cadet in ruinam magnam, ut pene omnia viscera eius effundantur.  (XXIIII)  Quid est hoc, quod dixi de visceribus serpentis antiqui? Sunt enim aliqui, qui nunc deglutiti sunt in visceribus eius, et postea foras mittentur. Et sunt homicide, adulteri, raptores, homines iniusti, qui precipitaverunt animas suas in mortem. Sunt etiam infelices katari, qui sunt abhominabiliores omni creatura, et in sulphureis linguis proferunt flammantia verba, et conta-minata est terra abominabili fide eorum. Et sicut olim gentes me crucifixerunt, sic cottidie crucifigor inter illos, qui talia colunt. 0 quam diabolica insania. qui me sciunt esse creatorem celi el terre et omnium, que in eis sunt, et intueri abyssos, lacerant vulnera mea effundentes corpus et sanguinem sacramentorum meorum, quod oblatum est ad salutem omnium credentium. Quod si me provocaverint ad iracuidiam, ego dominus in furore meo delebo terram cum genere suo usque ad infernum. Cessate prevaricatores iusticie, cessate ab insania ista. Si non feceritis, precipiam vos cruciari, supra quam credi potest, in sulphure et in igne inextinguibili, et vermibus gehennalibus sine fine. Et non est sensus, qui possit comprehendere gehennalem penam, nisi ille magnus leviathan , qui tentus est et seducit universum mundum. 

(XXV)  Ego dominus precipio vobis per dexteram meam, ut non percutiam vos in gladio oris mei, regibus et princibus, episcopis et abbatibus, presbiteris, et onmibus, cui in sublimitate estis, omnes hereses, que scismata faciunt in ecclesia mea, quam genui in amaritudine anime mee, omni fortitudine expellere et destruere fide catholica. 0 miserrimi et infelicissimi hypochrite, qui apparetis coram hominibus quasi religiosi et innocentes, intrinsecus autem pleni estis ingenio malo. Dicite mihi quomodo creditis in deum omnipotentem, si non creditis, omnipotenti deo omnia possibilia esse. Possibile quippe erat coram deo, emittere de sede magne maiestatis sue spiritum sanctum in virginalem uterum, et verbum incarnationis sue procedere. Nunquid creditis, quod deus pater creavit hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem suam, et constituit eum in paradisum voluptatis, ut operaretur et custodiret illud? Et ille serpens antiquus decepit eum, quod cecidit in peccatum, et per inobedientiam proiectus est foras. 0 infelix hypocrita, quamdiu putas te in peccatis tuis esse, si non credis in filimm dei, qui a patre procedit? Neque ergo creditis, eum incarnatum nec vere passum, nec sepultum, nec resurrexisse, neque in celos ascendisse, nec venturum esse iudicare vivos et mortuos. Vos autem, qni litterati estis, scrutamini libros de novo testamento, et recordamini verborum eius, qualem fructum inveneritis. Renovamini spiritu sancto et refocillate animas vestras in edificationem ecclesie, qui est sanctificata in Christo Iesu, et illuminata per sancta evangelia, et dealbata de antiqua rubigine. Quia ergo sancta ecclesia, que coniuncta est et desponsata celesti sponso filio eterni regis, qui in Iordane crimina eius lavit, ut sit una fides, unum baptisma, una ecclesia, et unica columba, et una electa Christi Iesu, vos genus electum, gens sancta, regale sacerdocum, populus acquisitionis, mementote, qua libertate liberavi vos de iugo et de captivitate diaboli. Eratis enim aliquando tenebre, nunc autem lux. Ambulate, ut filii karssimi, ut filii lucis sitis, dicit deus vester. Et iterum eadem veritas dicit: Vinea mea electa, ego te plantavi et cognitam tibi feci omnem viam veritatis, quomodo conversa es retrorsum, ambulans viam non rectam, sed post peccata tua, inquiris pacem secundum voluntatem tuam et dicis: Pax erit, et non est filius pacis, sed te ipsam seducis. 
(XXVI)  Ego vero expulsus sum et non est locus, ubi requiescere possit, pes meus sto ad ostium et pulso, et non est, qui me introducat, et caput meum plenum est rore, lectus meus in quo requiescere desiderabam, violatus est variis viciis, et qui intrant in inmundiciis suis ad sanctuarium meum, maculant lectum meum pravis operibus suis. Pastores mei oppressi sunt quasi in gravi somno, et quomodo evigilare eos faciam? Excitabo dexteram meam super eos. Patiens fui, et expectavi eos de die in diem, et ipsi in oblivionem tradunt me. Lex enim peribit primum a sacerdotibus et senioribus populi mei, quia venundare inquirunt sacrificia sacramentorum meorum, qui vendunt, vendunt sibi iudicium, et qui emunt, emunt gladium ex utraque parte acutum. Et iterum admoneo pastores meos paternis admonitionibus, qui sunt conscii secretorurn meorum: Estote imitatores mei et non diaboli, quia sunt aliqui, qui non intrant in ostium ad ovile meum, sed ascendunt aliunde per alim viam quasi fures et latrones, fures propter avariciam, latrones, quia perdunt animas sibi commissas. Tegunt enim prava opera eorum, ne videantur ab hominibus. Propterea audacter non contradicunt adversus omnem heresim, quia reprehensibiles sunt in viis eorum. Et iterum dico vobis: Procul dubio scitote, quante anime pereunt de ovibus meis, quas regere et custodire suscepistis, propter negligentias vestras, de manibus vestris requiram. In tremendo iudicio rationem reddituri estis, et redundabunt super vos omnia mala, que induxi super eos. 
(XXVII)  Nunc igitur reviviscite et considerate antecessores vestros apostolos, aliosque sanctos doctores ecclesie, qui minas hominum et verbera carnificum non timuerunt, sed verbum meum portaverunt ante reges et presides, cesi sunt et multa tormenta perpessi sunt, sed omnia sustinuerunt propter nomen meum. Propterea sunt in gloria et honore, quem dinumerare nemo potest, ante thronum meum, ibi me vident non in misteriis, sed oculo ad oculum, facie ad faciem, in claritate magna et maiestate. Beatus homo, qui legit et audit verba huius textus, et servat ea, quia vera sunt, et per angelum meum de throno meo missa sunt in edificationem multorum. 
(XXVIII)  Cogitante me, que esset significatio verbi, quod dixeram: in sulphureis linguis proferunt flammantia verba, posuit dominus verba hec in ore meo: Sulphur talis nature est, ut flamma eius in altum non ascendat, sed sub quadam obscuritate ardet in amaritudine, et significat hereses, que tam obscure proferunt verba venenosa, de quibus procedit flamina nigerrima et ignit corda fidelium, et facit eos hesitare in fide catholica. 

Historical context:

Elisabeth encourages Hildegard in her opposition to the Cathar heresy with her own attack on Cathars and those in the church who fail to stop them, connecting their failure with the problem of simony. When this letter was incorporated into Elisabeth’s Third Book of Visions, chapter headings were added, which are included here in brackets. This letter suggests Elisabeth’s familiarity with Hildegard’s brief work on the Cathars; see Analecta Sanctae Hildegardis, ed. J.-B. Pitra, Analecta Sacra, vol. 8 (Monte Cassino, 1882; rpt. Farnborough: Gregg Press Limited, 1966), 348-51. For the presence of Cathars in the Rhineland in this period, see Jeffrey Burton Russell, Dissent and Reform in the Early Middle Ages (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1965), 84-86, and R. I. Moore, The Origins of European Dissent (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1977), 168-82.

Scholarly notes:

(1) Elisabeth seems to be making an etymological reference to Hildegard’s name, which actually means “protection in battle.” I thank Barbara Newman and Connie Schutz for their help on this question [AC]
(2)See the prophecy which concluded the original version of First Book of Visions (ch. 25).
(3)The elaboration of this image from John 10:1 was part of a common rhetoric condemning simony as an abuse of pastoral care.
(4) This translation is copyrighted by Anne Clark. For permission to reproduce, contact Paulist Press.

Printed source:

Die Visionen der hl. Elisabeth und die Schriften der Aebte Ekbert und Emecho von Schönau, ed. F.W.E. Roth (Brünn: Verlag der Studien aus dem Benedictiner- und Cistercienser-Orden, 1884), Bk.3, ch.20-28 p.74-78; trans. Anne L. Clark, The Complete Works of Elisabeth of Schönau (New York: Paulist Press, 2000), 19.